Developers present their visions for Conshohocken

CONSHOHOCKEN — Two realty firms presented contrasting plans to Borough Council and a standing-room crowd of 75 residents Wednesday for the rebuilding of the Verizon building for police and borough employees, the redevelopment of a vacant Fayette Street parcel and the addition of parking for downtown shoppers.

Council heard both proposals but took no action Wednesday night.

Brandywine Realty Trust (BRT) ofRadnor, Delaware County, showed plans for a 226,920-square-foot office building over a 400-car, automated parking garage on the Fayette Street parcel. Two-hundred parking spaces would be added to existing parking garages located at 1 and 101 West Elm St.

BRT proposed demolishing the Verizon building at 402 Fayette St. and replace it with a new, 24,000-square-foot building.

Jerry Sweeney, the CEO of BRT, said 52 percent of its rental income comes from Pennsylvania.

The company owns 7 million square feet of office space in Philadelphia.

“We own three buildings outright in Conshohocken,” Sweeney said. “We want to work with community groups to refine the design of the buildings.”

The total investment for the Verizon building would be $8.5 million, and the building would have a 20-year lease rate of $29 per square foot for the borough offices, Sweeney said.

The purchase price of $1 million for the vacant parcel and historic Washington Fire Company building with a $62 million total project investment.

Councilman Matt Ryan asked if the borough would be able to purchase the replacement for the Verizon building, and Sweeney said that was “certainly possible.”

Sweeney said traffic was a concern.

“It is a macro issue in every town we do business in,” he said.

Council President Paul McConnell asked how tall the office building would be.

“The massing drawing we showed was 11 stories,” Sweeney said. “It is predicated on automated parking under the building.”

Automated parking uses an automated “racking system” that stores cars in half of the space used in a typical parking garage, and 70 parking spaces would be available at the Verizon building site, he said.

Councilman Robert Stokley asked if the Verizon building’s replacement would be built first.

“It is certainly an easier site to do,” Sweeney said. “That is an important topic.”

An additional parking deck would be added to the Mercy Health parking garage, Sweeny said. The addition would add 200 parking spaces and allow 300 parking spaces to available to Conshohocken residents, he said.

One resident asked about traffic problems and the addition of a new office building to the commercial district.

“In areas that are not served adequately by public transit, the problem is improving infrastructure to meet the demand,” Sweeney said.

Gerald McTamney asked how much the project will cost the borough.

Sweeney said the BRT proposal would invest more than $60 million in the borough.

“It is important that the density is serviceable,” Sweeney said.

Resident Liam McGuigan asked why the four parcels were tied together in a development proposal.

Councilman Matt Ryan said the borough had failed to sell the Verizon building when it was offered for sale by itself.

Councilman Robert Stokley said he wanted retail spaces in the first floor of the office building.

Solicitor Michael Savona said that after one proposal is selected, a development agreement would be negotiated and signed before a proposal would come before the planning commission and council.

Keystone Property Group (KPG) of Lower Merion proposed a hotel at the Fayette and Elm Street intersection, an eight-story parking garage to replace the existing three-story garage and a new, 200,000-square-foot office tower at the intersection of First Avenue and Fayette Street. The hotel would have 200 rooms, ground-floor restaurants and a rooftop lounge. The parking garage would have parking for the hotel guests, office workers and a minimum of 300 parking spaces for downtown Conshohocken businesses and visitors, according to the KPG proposal.

CEO William Glazerand attorney David Nasatir made the presentation for KPG.

“The proposal we have is meant to think big and enhance what Conshohocken is,” Nasatir said. “This is another big and bold step.”

“I see the brightest future for Conshohocken,” Glazer said. “I want to draw bright lines around the differences between the two proposals.”

Because his company owns all the adjacent parcels, Glazer said, it would be possible to assemble a large parcel for development, which would enhance the walkability of Conshohocken.

Both the hotel and office building would be 200 feet high and offer grand views, Glazer said. Because the company owns several buildings, the overall parcel would have six traffic ingress and egress points, which would spread out the traffic reaching the site, he said.

“The Verizon building is in tough shape. We have the ability to redevelop it and give the borough the office space it needs,” Glazer said. “Our offer for the little strip of land on Fayette Street is $3 million.”

Nasatir called it a “big and bold project.”

Glazer said a café would occupy 5,000 square feet, and office rentals would occupy 20,000 square feet. Both tenants would help the borough by paying rent, thus making the borough’s lease “revenue neutral,” he said.

McConnell asked how the intersection at West Elm and Fayette Street could be improved to raise its level of service from an “F” rating.

“I have no idea how to cure that intersection,” Glazer said. “If we could have the Outbound Station grow, that would be amazing.”

The borough could own the Verizon building after paying the lease payments over a number of years, Glazer said. The proposed hotel would be 17 stories high, and the office building would be 16 stories high, he said.

One resident praised the appearance of the proposed Verizon building renovation by KPG.

Bernard Griggs, a representative of the building trades union, said the organization is “100 percent in favor” of the Keystone plans.

“It is three times the value of the BRT proposal,” Griggs said. “This project is very important to our members.”

One resident said the height of the two proposed towers bothered her.

“The towers don’t emanate the small town feel of Conshohocken,” she said.